torsdag 14. desember 2017

Guild Ball (#45): Shark vs Theron - Video Match Report

I have played my first video recorded match at the STF studios! This is a grudge match, Andreas was the only one to beat me in the last tournament, and now I have another go ith Shark versus Theron.

For once, I don't have to write a battle report! :D

If you support STF, then you can see - among hundreds of other videos - how it goes when I try Corsair versus Theron afterwards. Patrons only!


 

søndag 10. desember 2017

Guild Ball (#44): Shark vs Thresher

Shane Wattie and Alex Botts have been doing extremely well with Thresher at SteamCon US, so I thought that I should better play against this list and see what it is all about. Alexander borrowed my Farmers, and I brought Shark. This is the first time Alexander is piloting this list.

Fishermen


Shark (Captain)
Tentacles (Mascot)
Greyscales
Hag
Sakana
Siren

Farmers


Thresher (Captain)
Peck (Mascot)
Harrow
Jackstraw
Millstone
Tater


Quick breakdown of the Thresher list:

Thresher with Tooled Up from Harrow does momentous 3 damage on 2 hits, which in addition with the free 3 auto damage ability allows him to easily delete most models within 11". Millstone adds another 2" to the threat range. What he really wants to do is build a lot of momentum by going last, and then going first next turn, hopefully taking out 2 models.

Peck can use Cocky on Millstone so that anyone within Millstone can ignore the first two conditions.

Tater has Countercharge and can be used to protect the other pieces.

Jackstraw makes extra harvest markers and is also a good ball holder.

Farmers kick off (with Thresher, of course, for extra threat range).

Turn 1


Shark: 6, Tentacles: 1, Greyscales: 2, Hag: 1, Sakana: 1, Siren: 2

My plan here is to pass the ball back and forth and do a first turn goal with Shark.




Which Shark does just fine! 5 dice tap in. The ball is passed up to Thresher.




Then Thresher activates. The Farmers have blundered here by not having Jackstraw move up to place a harvest marker for Thresher. Still, a Tooled Up Thresher deals 14 damage to Sakana, leaving him at a single hit point. Sakana's free Poised Counterattack is useless since Thresher has 3" melee range during his activation.




Turn 2

My plan here is to grab the ball, pass it up on the right side, and score again. I cannot use Sakana, since he will die to Thresher's counterattack. I am at +3 momentum and win the roll off.

Shark: 4, Tentacles: 1, Greyscales: 3, Hag: 3, Sakana: 0, Siren: 3,

I get the ball off Thresher with Hag, who passes it to Siren.




I manage to pull it off. 8-2 to the Fishermen!




The ball is passed up to Thresher. Tentacles blinds Thresher. Thresher kills Tentacles and scores. 8-7 to the Fishermen. Tater knocks down Shark, leaving him at about half health.




Turn 3


Shark is knocked down and hurt so much that he risks dying to a Tater charge. I win initiative at +1 momentum, so at least I get to use him.

Shark: 6, Tentacles: 2, Greyscales: 4, Hag: 0, Sakana: 0, Siren: 3,

I activate Shark first to build five momentum and use Caught in the Net to make it hard for Tater stop my next goal. I also use Fast Feet (?) on Greyscales to make it easier for him to tap in.




The plan is to use Siren to pass the ball to Greyscales, who should then be able to just scoot up and score.




It works out perfectly. The cock is protecting the goal, so I need a single 4+ on 4 dice. Greyscales taps it in, for the win!




Sakana was also taken out again. Final score 12-9 to the Fishermen.

Post Mortem


This was pretty difficult. Usually I can make my opponent work really hard for the takeouts, but Thresher can just delete models at will. Alexander had not played this list before at all, and naturally he made several positioning mistakes. Also, everything I tried worked all game. Usually something blows up with all the passing and kicking and attacks.

Even so, this is one of the roughest Shark games I have played so far. If the Farmers had simply tried to kill the ball and do four takeouts, and then score, I think this would have been difficult for me to win. I might have won this one, but my estimate is that Thresher is up here. I must try out Corsair versus Thresher, and see how that plays out!



mandag 4. desember 2017

Guild Ball: Recorded Two Games at STF

I had two fun games today, playing first Shark and then Corsair against Theron! This time I am not blogging the games, since Andreas will post videos later. I'll let you know when they are available!

Playing for video takes way more time than normal games. We used about 3 hours for each game, but then I think that we got some very clean and fairly well played matches.

I'd really enjoy doing this again!

søndag 3. desember 2017

Boardgaming Birthday Weekend V

For my last five birthdays I have invited friends (and their kids) over for a boardgaming weekend.

Saturday


Pile of games ready!




Our first visitor is one of my son's friends, playing 4-in-a-row. :D




My friend and former colleague from Funcom, Arnleif, brought a quick & fun game called Kingdomino. It really does only take 15 minutes to play!




Then, we tried the Orient expansion to Splendor. Pretty good! I grabbed a 17 point win by suddenly grabbing a 4-point card and a noble.




Another Splendor expansion undergoing trials.




I did not get to try this weird-looking Container shipping game. :D




My son was teaching another friend how to play X-Wing. They had a great time! :D




We got a few of Dominion games as well. This game is one of the best and most varied strategy games ever made. I have been playing it for 10 years, and never tire of it.



Sunday


Sunday morning I got a Guild Ball game in! This one has a full match report, of course!





Got to show Dominion to my cousin Anders as well. First he was pretty confused, and at the end he wanted more games!




Good times! :D

Guild Ball (#43): Corsair vs Obulus - 4+ is the new 5+

I have been having a bunch of friends over for my annual boardgaming birthday party. I managed to squeeze in a game of Guild Ball between the Dominion, Kingdomino, Splendor and X-Wing games. For this game, I play Corsair against Obulus.

Fishermen


Corsair
Tentacles
Hag
Sakana
Siren
Avarisse & Greede

Morticians


Obulus
Dirge
Brainpan & Memory
Ghast
Greaves
Silence


I get Field Dressing, Knee Slider and Who are Ya? Obulus kicks off.

Turn 1


Corsair: 6, Tentacles: 1, Hag: 1, Sakana: 1, Siren: 3, Avarisse: 0, Greede: 1
Obulus: 6, Dirge: 0, Brainpan: 2, Ghast: 1, Greaves: 1, Silence: 3,



Hag goes forward and kicks the ball to the squid. I dodge forward Avarisse, I think this was wrong, I should have extended Corsair's threat range instead. Also, I should have used Sakana. He can't do much useful stuff on turn one, better to move Hag later.


I pass the ball a little. Obulus pulls Avarisse forwards.

Both he and Brainpan overextend, but I miss a both a 3 dice Lure on Obulus *and* a 3 dice Drag on Brainpan. At least one of them landing on 4+ is a 98.5% chance. If I had pulled one in I could have build a ton of momentum with Corsair and taken the first takeout in Round 2.

What a terrible start to the game!

Silence hits with a nice AOE and sets Corsair, Hag, and A&G on fire.

Turn 2


Corsair: 6, Tentacles: 1, Hag: 0, Sakana: 1, Siren: 0, Avarisse: 3, Greede: 2
Obulus: 5, Dirge: 0, Brainpan: 4, Ghast: 2, Greaves: 1, Silence: 1





My super bad luck in the last turn allowed Memory to get the first takeout on Siren. The ball scatters and Barinpan picks it up and kicks, misses, and it scatters to Ghast.




In my first activation I do land a 2 dice blind on a 5 influence Obulus, though, which feels pretty good!




Corsair should on average one-round Brainpan (2 hits for Knockdown, 3 hits for 2 Damage Push into range of Hag and Avarisse, and then 4 8 dice attacks on 3+ with 1 armor should do the last 12). I whiff the first two and just do 1 damage on each. He ends up at 1 single hit point.

Siren uses her Legendary to pull in Obulus. He has no problem disentangling himself afterwards, so that was pretty pointless, actually. I think I must either hit Obulus after he is done for the turn, or just go for someone else.

Brainpan is taken out by A&G. The score is 2-2.




Turn 3


Obulus gets a nice goal. Greaves is pulled in and killed by Corsair and A&G. Hag is taken out by Ghast. 8-4 to the Morticians!




I kick the ball out to Tentacles, but it is no help.

Turn 4


Obulus steals my momentum, and next turn he makes Tentacles pass to him, and he scores again. 12-4 to the Morticians!




Post Mortem


I did some misplays the first turn, but missing everything was just sad. On the other hand, I think that if the Morticians had positioned better, I might not really have had many first turn opportunities.

I think that Shark would be a better pick. All my Close Control is useless against Obulus, and having two throw-away defense 5 models to block with makes it difficult for me to pull someone in in the first turn. Obulus is also very hard to pin down.

Putting the ball on Siren would be better here. At 5 defense it is at least a little bit risky for Obulus to try to mind control her. An alternative would be to play Salt instead of Tentacles, the low kick range and 5 defense makes him an excellent ball carrier.

Even with such a bad start it is pretty clear that I am outfighting him. Some possible replacements might be A&G -> Kraken for less damage but more Drag opportunities, and Tentacles -> Salt for better ball killing. But I suspect that Shark might just out-football the Morticians, I have to try it out now!

Well played game by my opponent!